GREEN LIST STANDARD

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has begun a project which looks to pioneer a new global project, intended to “improve the performance and success of protected and conserved areas across the globe.” It’s a blockchain based ICO, so it will follow the typical Ethereum coin presale schedule. Dubbed the “IUCN Green List”, the project will take on the issue of protecting and conserving areas that deliver successful conservation through effective and equitable governance and management, more specifically through the use of blockchain.

The following is a brief yet comprehensive set of background points about IUCN. The list is not meant to be exhaustive nor complete.

IUCN has been recognized and is known for their two labels: UNESCO and Red List of Endangered Species

Among their other labels, IUCN has recently introduced their new label, “Green List”

Through Green List, IUCN plans to certify more than 10k environmental sites over the course plan of twelve years.

IUCN’s blockchain approach to Green List will make the process much more efficient, transparent, and effective.

IUCN will begin their initial public coin offering (“crowdfunding”) for the GreenList next week using the ERC-20 protocol.

The Swiss Porini Foundation has been chosen by IUCN as a prime partner for the technical implementation and handling of the soon-to-be-launched Green List ICO.

Blockchain, the superior and innovative technology, will be used to help IUCN achieve credibility in making sure the Green List is successful. The method provides ultimate transparency from using the Ethereum platform, which will make all transactions, contracts and processes publicly available. This is intended to be a community funded project using Token Generating Events (TGE), and will allow the IUCN team to bypass the enormous bootstrapping phase any other startup would need to endure. Leveraging a TGE startup, the blockchain community and donors can help solve the “pioneer gap”, which can negatively affect the overall development and creation process. In addition, all stakeholders and the general public can see the status of any listed site, thanks to the transparency of the project; further, a strategic partner or donor will be able to see how their buy-in is used, and what results they can expect.

Beyond the transparency advantage of Green List, a mission of conservation is one unlike many other ICOs today. According to the IUCN, the Green List program is “to improve the contribution that fairly and effectively managed protected areas make to sustainable development through the conservation of nature and provision of associated social, economic, cultural, and spiritual values.” In other words, the scope of the project is to provide funding and assistance to conservative areas, including over ten thousand national parks and nature reserves. The project site states that there are currently over 250,000 national parks globally, and bringing awareness that they aren’t receiving enough funding, awareness, and care.

Despite the typical risks that come with an ICO, there are several opportunities included with investing into the Green List. Yes, the advantages of a token-based network lie in transparency and trust, low transaction costs, often free of corruption, disorder, tampering and fraud. Keeping blockchain as a foundation for this forward-minded project is essential to “provide fair finance to access the IUCN Green List Program globally, and to ultimately collaborate with other similar groups in moving toward the final, complete goal.

The Token Generating Event (TGE) will appear in three main phases:

PHASE 1: aimed to target the community familiar with cryptocurrency, hoping to attract potential investors who would be passionate about Green List

PHASE 2: appealing to classical donors and supporters of similar conservation efforts; these including the World Land Trust and the Conservation Reserve Program.

PHASE 3: beginning after the blockchain trial and development phase (by 2020), IUCN will annually release a maximum of 10% of all available tokens from the Green List Fund to stakeholders and the market. This will be applied toward nature conservation projects, as stated in the mission.

By investing in the initial coin offering beginning next week, you can help get this project started, and ultimately begin a global change in nature conservation policy!